White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fielded questions from the children of journalists and White House officials to celebrate Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day on Tuesday.

The children’s questions focused mainly on President Donald Trump, with Leavitt being forced to reveal the president’s favorite flavor of ice cream, what super power he most wants to have, and whether he likes to give hugs.

‘Oh, does he like to give hugs? You know, I think he does. I have seen him give many hugs to children and his family and our beautiful first lady. So, yes, I do think he likes to gives hugs,’ Leavitt told her first questioner.

‘What is the funnest part about your job, and the hardest part?’ the next child asked.

‘I think the most fun part about my job is doing things like this with all of you in the briefing room and answering so many great questions. I think that the hardest part of my job is also doing things like this in the briefing room and answering all of these questions,’ she responded, to laughter.

‘And reading the news is a big part of my job every day. I wake up and read the newspaper and watch the news and listen to all of the things that your parents are reporting on in the news, and that’s a big part of my job every day,’ she added.

The next child asked about Trump’s favorite food, and Leavitt said he prefers steak to anything else.

Leavitt informed the next child that Trump’s favorite ice cream flavor is a classic ice cream sundae.

‘If the president could have a superpower, what would it be? That is a very good question,’ Leavitt responded to the next child. ‘I think if he had a superpower it would be to just snap his fingers and solve all of our country’s problems just like that, because he likes to get things done very quickly but sometimes it takes a little bit longer.

‘Like today, he had to go to Capitol Hill to convince people to vote for his one big beautiful bill. I bet if he had a superpower he would snap his fingers and get it passed immediately, but Life doesn’t work that way, unfortunately,’ she added.

First lady Melania Trump also spent time with kids outside the White House. Many of them could be seen wearing dark blue hats that said ‘Gulf of America’ in bright red letters.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a possible prisoner swap involving nine Americans during their phone call this week, The Associated Press reported.

Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, who previously served as Russian ambassador to the U.S., made the announcement after Trump and Putin spoke for two hours Monday. 

Putin and Trump talked about a Russia-U.S. prisoner exchange, which Ushakov said was ‘in the works’ and envisioned Moscow and Washington releasing nine people each. He did not offer any other details.

The State Department did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

The development comes following the release of Russian American Ksenia Karelina, who was freed from Russia in April after being detained for more than a year.

Both Trump and Putin described the call on Monday in a positive light, with the Kremlin chief saying it was ‘frank’ and ‘useful,’ but it is not immediately clear what results were achieved.  

Trump took to social media to praise the call as having gone ‘very well’ and said, ‘Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.’ 

Putin, in a statement after the call, also noted that ‘a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible’ but noted that ‘Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett, Caitlin McFall and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump rallied House Republicans behind closed doors to pass his ‘one big, beautiful bill’ as soon as possible – and to quickly resolve their interparty disagreements in the process.

Trump made a rare visit to Capitol Hill just days before the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a massive bill advancing his agenda on tax, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit.

It is a reflection of the high stakes that congressional Republicans and the White House are facing, with just razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate.

Trump warned House Republicans to not ‘f— around’ with Medicaid and state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, two significant points of contention for warring GOP factions, two people in the room told Fox News Digital.

Two people said Trump targeted Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., on SALT specifically. Lawler, one of just three Republicans in districts Trump lost in 2024, has been one of the most vocal proponents of a higher SALT deduction cap.

‘I know your district better than you do. If you lose because of SALT, you were going to lose anyway,’ Trump said during his remarks, the sources told Fox News Digital.

When asked about those comments by reporters after the meeting, Lawler said, ‘The issue of SALT is one of the biggest issues impacting my district. It’s the reason I won.’

‘I made very clear when I ran for office back in ’22 that I would never support a tax bill that does not adequately lift the cap on SALT,’ Lawler said.

Meanwhile, three sources in the room said Trump also targeted Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has frustrated both the president and House GOP leaders in the past by bucking the party line. Trump had called Massie a ‘grandstander’ in public comments to reporters minutes before the meeting.

Massie told reporters when asked for his response, ‘It would be ironic if one of you guys who stopped me, wants to report that I’m a grandstander. Because you are the ones who are performing this, standing. I would be walking.’

‘I don’t think he wants to talk about cutting spending,’ Massie said of Trump.

SALT deduction caps and Medicaid remain two of the biggest sticking points in Republican negotiations. SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles and their surrounding suburbs. Republicans representing those areas have argued that raising the SALT deduction cap is a critical issue and that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms.

Republicans in redder, lower-tax areas have said in response that SALT deductions favor wealthy people living in Democrat-controlled states and that such deductions reward progressive high-tax policies.

It was Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that first instituted caps on SALT deductions – setting the maximum at $10,000 for both married couples and single filers.

SALT Caucus members like Lawler have rejected House Republican leaders’ offer to increase that to $30,000, but Trump told those Republicans to accept what offer was on the table, according to people in the room.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, are pushing for the bill to be more aggressive in cutting waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system, including a faster timeline for implementing work requirements for able-bodied recipients. Currently, the legislation has work requirements kicking in 2029.

They also want to restructure Medicaid cost-sharing to put a bigger burden on the states.

Moderates, meanwhile, have been wary of making significant cuts to the program.

A White House official said Trump stressed he wanted complete unity on the bill, and ‘made it clear he’s losing patience with all holdout factions of the House Republican Conference, including the SALT Caucus and the House Freedom Caucus.’

He also urged Republicans to debate SALT ‘later’ while warning, ‘Don’t touch Medicaid except for eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, including booting off illegal immigrants and common-sense work requirements,’ the White House official said.

However, lawmakers leaving the meeting appear to have taken away very different conclusions.

‘He’s just like, listen. I think where we’re at with the bill is good, and to keep pushing for more will be difficult,’ Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said of Trump’s Medicaid comments.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., similarly said, ‘I think he’s referring to members who want to change the approach that the Energy & Commerce Committee has taken.’

‘He thinks they’ve taken a good, balanced approach to preserve the program, enhance the program, while narrowing the scope and hunting out waste, fraud, and abuse,’ Hill said.

Meanwhile, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital, ‘I think the president will not mind changes that…decrease waste, fraud, and abuse in the bill.’

However, it is unclear how much Trump’s message moved Republicans who were skeptical of the bill previously.

Harris came out of the meeting insisting the House-wide vote should be delayed, so House Republicans could take more time to negotiate the bill.

Additionally, SALT Caucus Republicans like Lawler, as well as Reps. Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino of New York, indicated to reporters they would oppose the bill as currently written.

Some last-minute changes are expected to be made to the legislation before a 1 a.m. House Rules Committee meeting to advance the bill. The powerful panel acts as the final gatekeeper to most legislation before a House-wide vote.

However, it is unclear now if changes will be made to SALT deduction caps or Medicaid after Trump urged Republicans to clear up both fights.

Republicans are working to pass Trump’s policies on tax, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt all in one massive bill via the budget reconciliation process.

Budget reconciliation lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, thereby allowing the party in power to skirt the minority — in this case, Democrats — to pass sweeping pieces of legislation, provided they deal with the federal budget, taxation, or the national debt.

House Republicans are hoping to advance Trump’s bill through the House by the end of this week, with a goal of a final bill on the president’s desk by the Fourth of July.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Washington Sen. Patty Murray during a Tuesday Senate hearing for allegedly ‘presiding over the destruction’ of Americans’ health across her more than 30 years in the upper chamber. 

‘You’ve presided here, I think, for 32 years. You presided over the destruction of the health of the American people. Our people are now the sickest people in the world,’ Kennedy said to Murray during a tense back and forth Tuesday morning. 

Murray began her tenure in the Senate in 1993. 

‘Seriously?’ Murray interjected. 

‘What have you done about it? Kennedy shot back. What have you done about the epidemic of chronic disease?’

As the two continued talking over one another, the subcommittee chair, Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, asked Kennedy to ‘hold back and let the senator ask the questions.’

‘Mr. Secretary, I’m asking you a question about child care,’ Murray continued. ‘I’m asking you who made the decision to withhold child care and development block grant funding?’  

‘That was made by my department,’ Kennedy responded. 

Kennedy appeared before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday morning to answer questions related to HHS’ budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. The hearing comes just after Kennedy joined lawmakers in both a Senate hearing and a House hearing, both of which included fiery exchanges between Kennedy and Democrat lawmakers. 

Murray continued in her questioning that the HHS was making vast cuts to scientists at the agency, which Kennedy dismissed, citing that he does not ‘trust’ Murray’s information. 

‘And you said last week, quote, ‘we were not cutting thousands of scientists,’ Murray continued. ‘We are not cutting clinical trials.’ But I want you to know, in the last four months, you fired or pushed out nearly 5,000 NIH staff and terminated more than 1,600 NIH grants. That includes more than 240 clinical trials across the country. So whose decision was it to fire scientists and terminate these NIH grants and the clinical trial?’ 

‘Senator, I don’t trust your information with all due respect,’ Kennedy responded, continuing that Murray’s previous remarks in a recent hearing were not correct. ‘You told me what, three days ago or four days ago, that we had cut a clinical trial in your state and … what you said turned out to be completely untrue. And you knew it was untrue because you corresponded with (Director of the National Institutes of Health) Jay Bhattacharya before that.’ 

‘You came here to argue with me,’ Murray added. ‘I came here to ask you questions about your budget request. Your budget request is asking us to cut dramatically. But I am also making the point that Senator Baldwin made, that what you are doing right now is enacting your budget, that Congress has not passed, by cutting critical funding across the board.’ 

The Washington Democrat previously exchanged barbs with Kennedy Wednesday, when Murray accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents. 

‘Mr. Secretary, one of my constituents … she’s a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington state,’ Murray said in her opening line of questioning Wednesday. ‘She has been fighting aggressive stage four colorectal cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial she’s participating in at the [National Institutes of Health’s] Clinical Center.’ 

‘But because of the thoughtless mass firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie’s doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks.’

‘I can’t tell you that now, Sen. Murray,’ Kennedy responded. ‘What I can tell you is that if you contact my office tomorrow, I’ll look specifically into that.’ 

However, that answer from Kennedy was ‘not acceptable’ to the senator.

‘That is not acceptable,’ Murray shot back, eventually demanding Kennedy provide her an update on Natalie’s case within 24 hours. ‘I want an answer.’ 

Kennedy added during Tuesday’s hearing that Murray’s constituent had qualified for the clinical trial ‘this week,’ adding that ‘we shouldn’t be talking about patients’ private information,’ with Murray agreeing. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this article. 

President Donald Trump will make an announcement on the Golden Dome missile defense system at 3 p.m. ET this afternoon alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Space Force Vice Chief of Operations, General Michael Guetlein, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News. 

The Pentagon’s recommendations for the multibillion-dollar project will be announced, including the drafted architecture and implementation plan for the complex satellite system, the official added. 

A total of $25 billion has been carved out of next year’s defense budget for this system, but the Congressional Budget office estimates it could cost as much as $500 billion over the next 20 years.   

Officials told Reuters that Guetlein will likely be named as the lead program manager for the Golden Dome project. 

Last month, Reuters reported that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two of its partners have emerged as frontrunners to build part of the missile defense system. 

SpaceX is teaming up with software maker Palantir and defense technology company Anduril for a joint bid, with all three of the companies having met with top officials in the Trump administration and the Pentagon to pitch their proposal, sources told Reuters at the time. 

Their plan is to build and launch 400 to up to more than 1,000 satellites to track the movement of missiles around the globe, the sources said. A fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missiles or lasers would then eliminate enemy projectiles, but the SpaceX group is not anticipated to play a role in the weaponization of those satellites, the sources added.   

Trump has ordered the construction of an advanced, next-generation missile defense shield to protect the U.S. from an aerial attack.  

In January, he signed an executive order that tasks Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth with drawing up plans to build an ‘Iron Dome for America’ that will protect Americans from the threat of missiles launched by a foreign enemy. 

The Pentagon has received interest from more than 180 companies to help build the project, a U.S. official told Reuters.   

Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.   

Republican senators are renewing calls for the Pentagon’s watchdog to investigate alleged misconduct and efforts to ‘undermine the chain of command’ by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., penned a letter obtained by Fox News Digital to the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, Steven Stebbins, renewing their 2022 request for a review of Milley’s conduct.

‘We are writing to ensure that our concerns about alleged misconduct by the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, are finally addressed,’ Grassley and Banks wrote. 

The two senators made a request for an independent review of the conduct on Aug. 17, 2022, when Banks was serving as the chair of the House Republican Study Committee, but the review was closed by the former inspector general ‘without ever providing acceptable answers to our questions.’ 

Grassley and Banks said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has since ‘revived this review,’ directing the acting inspector general to ‘conduct a review of General Milley’s alleged misconduct, including his actions to ‘undermine the chain of command.’’ 

Hegseth is also seeking answers on whether ‘enough evidence exists for General Milley to be stripped of a star in retirement.’ 

‘The Secretary’s request rungs parallel to ours,’ Grassley and Banks wrote, noting that Hegseth’s request ‘takes priority,’ but requested that once his request is complete, they will expect ‘some long overdue answers.’

The senators’ inquiry was triggered by ‘explosive statements’ made by Milley in several books, including ‘Peril’ by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book chronicled Milley making ‘disparaging remarks about his Commander-in-Chief’ and attempting ‘to insert himself in the nuclear chain of command despite having no nuclear command authority,’ Grassley and Banks said. 

They also referenced a promise Milley made to his Chinese counterparts ahead of any potential U.S. attacks on Beijing. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2021 that Milley confirmed that he did, in fact, tell his Chinese counterpart that he would likely call ahead of any potential U.S. attacks on China, but he maintained that he had that conversation at the direction of then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper after assessing intelligence suggesting heightened Chinese concerns about escalation.

Milley added, though, that he was ‘not going to tip off any enemy to what the United States is going to do in an actual plan.’ 

The book also chronicled comments in which Milley said he believed then-President Donald Trump ‘had gone into serious mental decline … and could go rogue and order military action or use nuclear weapons, without going through required procedures.’

The lawmakers also pointed to the book’s report that Milley had to ‘take any and all necessary precautions’ to prevent the former president from engaging in a ‘rogue’ military action and he ‘wanted to find a way to inject, if not require, that second opinion.’

Grassley and Banks said that the Department of Defense’s former inspector general’s ‘refusal to investigate allowed Milley to dodge responsibility.’  

‘The nation’s highest-ranking military officer has a solemn responsibility to set an example of excellence and to model good conduct for all American service members,’ they wrote. ‘The record suggests that General Milley failed to meet those standards.’ 

Grassley and Banks said Milley’s ‘conduct and willful undermining of his Commander-in-Chief posed a grave threat to civilian control of the military.’ 

‘The issues raised by Milley’s alleged misconduct are too important to be swept under the rug,’ they wrote. ‘They must be examined, and if substantiated, General Milley should be held accountable.’ 

Grassley and Banks added that the acting inspector general’s ‘full cooperation would be appreciated.’ 

Milley did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.